Cops and Robbers
by Veracity's Word
Summary: Someone very clever once said:"Love that is not madness is not love." A collection of Zane/Jo oneshots. Rating simply because of a little language. Mother May I: Jo has a visitor, and Zane is :never: going to live it down. Mother knows best after all.
1. First Impressions

The first in my menagerie of Jo/Zane collection. My goal is to get to at least fifty oneshots before I finally put a 'complete' stamp on it. Whether or not that goal is reached is another story entirely. In any case this is my first attempt at publishing my Eureka works (and admittedly it's been a while since I've seen some of the episodes, particularly the one referenced here, so things might be a little off) so please forgive any mistakes (grammatical or otherwise) and please feel free to point out any you find out.

In the meantime, please read and (hopefully) enjoy and reviews are - of course - welcomed.

- Veracity

Oh and a quick p.s. This is my first attempt at capturing Zane and I'm currently trying to get all the kinks out so if he seems a little OoC please forgive and point out anything that I might have missed. Much appreciated!

* * *

**First Impressions**

He had never exactly been the 'settled' type. Or the type to settle down.

For one, he was a thief. If he wasn't robbing her blind when he dated a woman he would just end up leaving her as whatever city he happened to be in got a little too boring (or hot, if the feds got lucky and caught a whiff of him) and he moved on to the next metropolis. It wasn't as if he was _heartless_ or anything, in some cases he might have actually cared for whomever it was that caught his fancy, he was just...wistful? Sure, wistful was a good term. Nicer than 'ADHD driven asshole', and boy had he been called _that_ (and other creative variants) more than once in his life.

But he digressed.

The point was, he was a criminal and even a good criminal (even one as brilliant as _he_ was) got sloppy when a women and love and all those messy, complicated things were involved. And he was _not_ planning on getting caught anytime soon. Though, he supposed, he _had_ gotten caught, and there _hadn't_ in fact been a woman involved. The facts remained, nevertheless.

Then there had come Allison Blake and Eureka and Carter and the whole mess with everyone acting like idiots and Jo.

And most important of _all,_ _**Jo**_.

There had been a lot of mess after he had been caught at that store. And even when he had run off while the sheriff tried to fix the town's latest weirdness he hadn't been able to figure out _exactly_ why he was leaving - that project they were working on was _brilliant_ after all, a once in a lifetime thing that even _he_ could stay put long enough to enjoy and be mesmerized by - and it wasn't until all had been said and done and Carter had told him to take pretty, gun happy Josephina out to the Ballet that he really thought about all the running he had done in his life and that _other_ reason he had left all those women behind.

Love, quite frankly, scared the _shit_ out of him.

And Jo, fascinating, clever, funny, kick-your-ass-in-a-second-flat-while-still-looking-absolutly-_gorgous_ Jo was just the kind of woman to take that fear and quadrupled it. Not because she _could_ in fact kick his ass if he screwed it all up (which she could), but because to be completely honest- something he hadn't really been since he had started his career in the criminal arts - Jo was the kind of woman that he could actually _see_ himself falling in love with.

He had made his decision though, he had decided to stop running long enough that even _Carter_ thought he wouldn't bolt and with the most care he had given _anything_ for a long, _long_ time he had jumped in head first and taken Deputy Lupo out for a date.

....The fact that he screwed that date up was another issue all of itself.


	2. Mother May I: Part I

So...I really, _really_meant to update last week. I was determined to, I swear! But then....let's just say electricity hates me and I was stuck without Internet or AC. Sorry to say the AC was a _tiny_bit more missed than the Internet, simply because it was roughly a thousand and twelve degrees out and the people who own my house before me had the oh-so-brilliant idea of sealing the windows shut so you can't open them anymore. Yeah, so...

In any case, this particular snippet was...a pain. This was actually a lot longer, nearly three-thousand words when I finished it, but it just felt...weird and I didn't like it. So I scraped a good portion of it and turned in into a two-parter. This being the first and (hopefully) I'll have the next part up later on in the day if not by tomorrow night.

I would also like to thank both 2011-National Treasure and Cherry0208 who were so fantastic as to review, as well as to everyone who added this story to their favorite and alert lists, you are all fabulous!

-Veracity

* * *

All Carter could do was laugh. _Hysterically_.

Not because something had gone awry in Eureka - again - and he physically _couldn't_ stop laughing. That had already happened, a few weeks ago actually, though in that situation there had nothing to really laugh at. Considering he couldn't _breathe_ and all, oxygen depletion was a _bitch_ sometimes.

No, he wasn't laughing because Fargo has screwed up...again. This was _**much**_ better.

Zane's mother had come.

To see Jo.

She had brought baby pictures.

Yes, this was indeed _much_ better than slowly dying of a hysterically giggling suffocation.

Trying to smothering his laughter with a sip of coffee and a snort, Carter watched as the small, chatter-y woman - as energetic as she had been when he had spoken to her on the phone - tugged at a bewildered looking Jo's arm. He _almost_ felt sorry for his deputy, the little woman _had_appeared with little more warning then the whoosh of the front door as it had opened and had instantly started inquiring about the 'wonderful deputy Lupo' who had 'captured her riley son's heart so completely.'

But, like he had said, _**almost**_.

"You don't mind if I steal your deputy away for the afternoon, do you sheriff? I'm sure you can reach her if something comes up, and with this being such a quiet town I seriously doubt there will be any trouble." He wondered, briefly, if the use of the word 'steal' was merely a coincidence or if perhaps Zane came by his criminal ways in some other way then being a system bucking adrenaline junkie. Either way, Mrs. Donavon had already managed to herd Jo nearly out the door without a violent or loud protest from the former army ranger.

Being accosted by a four-foot-nine woman with the verbal speed and exuberance of a hyperactive chipmunk could do that to a person - _even_Jo Lupo it seemed.

The frightened look on his deputy's face, however, urged him to speak up and say that he _did_ in fact need his deputy that day. It had only been a few scarce - and markedly dangerous - situations that he had seen something akin to real fright on Jo's face after all. But as he opened his mouth to object - he had a sneaking suspicion that her lack of argument had something to do with the fact that her 'attacker' was her boyfriend's mother - the little woman's bright blue eyes settled on him and it all became extraordinarily clear. Mrs. Donavon wasn't actually asking. "Ah, no, not at all. I'll be fine for an afternoon..."

Jo very well could threaten and retaliate all she wanted after everything was said and done, but this little woman before him had the same frightening glare as _his_ mother. And that was a hell of a lot more scary than _anything_ his deputy could manage.

With a large smile and a nod the Donavon matriarch proceeded to push Jo out the door, blue eyes twinkling in success. Marching the deputy out to where she had parked her car the older woman went back to her excited chatter. From within his office, coffee in hand, the sheriff watched as his deputy was stuffed into the vehicle, shaking his head to himself as he chuckled. Judging by the stack of photo albums the woman had been holding, Jo was going to need more than just a single afternoon off.

And Zane was _never_ going to live it down.


End file.
